Alevo Group is developing an
energy storage system in Lewes that combines advanced software and batteries.
The company worked with the City of Lewes and the Lewes Board of Public Works in developing the eight-megawatt system.
The project is at the location of a retired oil-fired generator building once operated by Lewes, which has its own electrical utility.
Battery storage is viewed as a way to balance out an electrical grid that is seeing more wind and solar power come on line.
The Lewes project is the first announced deployment for Clevo’s GridBanks and follows the company’s inauguration at an official event at its manufacturing facility and headquarters in Concord, NC in late 2014.
At the event, Aleve unveiled plans what it described as innovations in battery technology and data analytics.
The GridBank deployment in Lewes is the first in a series of major commercial deployments the company has scheduled for 2016, and follows an operational agreement Alevo struck with Customized Energy Solutions (CES), a provider of energy market operations services, to provide 200 megawatts of grid storage to the North American wholesale energy market.
Using Alevo’s GridBank technology, Alevo will be able to sell services into the PJM grid market, while providing the city with improved power quality, a more reliable electric grid system and the ability to shave peak demand for its customers.
Theodore W. Becker, Mayor of Lewes, said: “The Lewes Board of Public Works has high expectations for the Alevo batteries and operating system that will be dispatched through Customized Energy Solutions. Lewes is a small municipal utility located at the ‘end of the extension cord’ of PJM.
Becker continued: We have had few options to manage and improve our capacity and transmission charges since taking our generation capacity out of the market in 1999 due to stiffening environmental rules. We also have the dilemma of a significant renewable energy presence in our distribution system – both a 1.5 MW wind turbine situated at the University of Delaware and one of the highest per capita installations of solar – which can cause upward pressures for demand costs to the system. The installation of the 8 MW battery will provide a significant tool to manage our capacity charges, our peak demands and transmission charges, and we anticipate it to be a boon for the citizens of Lewes.”
“Lewes BPW is a great partner for Alevo and we look forward to a long relationship with them and other municipalities,” said Jeff Gates, Vice President, Alevo. “With support from Lewes BPW, Alevo has been able to bring this project to market quickly, which will not only increase the overall efficiency of the PJM grid, but also add significant value to our local partner and their customers.”
